The invention relates to a safety system for an unmanned flying object (1), flown by a user on the ground, the safety system making it possible to reduce the risks of the flying object (1) falling in the event of failure. The safety system comprises: a wing/sail/canopy support mounted on the flying object (1), a flexible wing/sail/canopy (2), such as a parachute, arranged on the wing/sail/canopy support; a winder (4) fixed in a flying-object (1) recovery zone (Z), the winder (4) including a winding drum and an electric motor for driving the drum; a retaining cable (5) connected by one of its ends to the flying object (1) and connected by its other end to the winding drum; and a control station (6) for, when failure in the flying-object (1) flight conditions is detected, commanding activation of the wing/sail/canopy support in order to deploy the flexible wing/sail/canopy (2) and commanding activation of the electric motor so as to turn the drum in such a way as to wind the retaining cable (5) onto the drum, the control station (6) also being programmed to vary the angular velocity at which the electric motor rotates